US aircraft carrier reportedly sails into radioactive cloud

The US Pentagon was expected to announce that US sailors on the USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier, were exposed to radiation when the carrier sailed into a radioactive cloud off the coast of Japan, according to a New York Times report.

US government officials told the NY Times that sailors and other military personnel onboard were exposed to a month’s worth of radiation in an hour’s time. They added that US helicopters flying humanitarian missions some 60 miles north of damaged Japanese reactors were coated with particulate radiation. Theaircraft were washed off.

Despite the scare, officials said there was no indication that any of the military personnel experienced ill effects from the exposure, comparing it to “natural background radiation” that all people are exposed to daily.

A second hydrogen explosion rocked a stricken nuclear power plant in Japan where authorities have been scrambling to avert a meltdown after last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.